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Belgium this week introduces a distanced-based truck toll as a new study reveals that trucks cost society €143 billion a year across the EU. The independent study for green transport group Transport & Environment (T&E) also found that trucks currently cover only 30% of these costs through taxation and charges. As the EU revises its road charging directive, T&E said Belgium’s road charging scheme is a fair way to ensure that trucks pay for a bigger share of the damage they cause.

T&E commissioned a study to monetise the external costs of trucks and to determine whether truck users are now covering a larger share of their external costs than in 2009 – when the first Are Trucks Taking Their Toll? report was published. The report finds that while there has been progress, a lot remains to be done.

Lorries cause vastly more environmental damage and congestion than their share of Europe’s road vehicles leads people to believe, according to a report for T&E that has been published as the EU debates a controversial revision of the Eurovignette directive.

The European Commission adopted today a package entitled "Towards Greener Transport" which included a long-awaited strategy to allow transport to pay for the costs that they cause to environment and society. The package includes a legislative Proposal to revise the Eurovignette Directive that aims to remove a legal obstacle which prohibits trucks being charged for the costs that they cause in terms of congestion and pollution.